Microstructure, rheological and wound healing properties of collagen-based gel from cuttlefish skin

• Collagen gel showed a dense fibrillar microstructure and smaller pore size.
• Ability of collagen to enhance wound healing.
• Collagen gel from cuttlefish increased wound contraction.
• Histological analysis revealed that collagen enhanced wound epithelialization.

Collagen-based biomaterials are of the utmost importance for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The aims of the present investigation were to evaluate structural and rheological properties of collagen-based gel obtained from cuttlefish skin, and to investigate its ability to enhance wound healing. Scanning electron microscopy of resulted gel showed a dense fibrillar microstructure with high interconnection network with a smaller pore size. In addition, the rheological characterization of collagen gel showed an excellent reversibility, when subjected to a temperature variation. Moreover, in the wound-healing study, topical application of collagen based gel increased significantly the percentage of wound closure over a period of 12 days, when compared to the untreated and CICAFLORA®-treated groups. Wound-healing activity of collagen gel was confirmed by histopathology study. Thus, cuttlefish collagen based gel might be useful as a wound healing agent.